THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611020283
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 64 lines
With four of seven seats up for grabs on Dare County's historically Democrat-dominated Board of Commissioners, Republicans have conducted one of the most aggressive, well-organized campaigns in recent memory.
The last time Republicans sat on the board was between 1988 and 1992, when Mikey Daniels, ``Gack'' Gaskill Austin and Sonny Ambrose held seats.
Radio and newspaper ads, a partisan voters' guide and fund-raising galas are all new strategies for the county GOP.
``This has been a coordinated campaign, as a party, for the first time,'' Dare County Republican Party Chairman George Embrey said.
But Democrats charge that the challengers' campaign has been little more than dirty politics.
``It's the ugliest I've ever been involved with,'' said Gwen Heath, president of the Democratic Women of Dare. ``I hate the negativism. . . . If people can't talk about their own issues without degrading or demeaning their opponents' characters, then they shouldn't be running.''
Heath, who is married to Aubrey Heath, chairman of the Dare County Democratic Party, said negative campaigning ``finally (has) trickled down to the local level.''
On the tamer side, Republicans have called for the current at-large voting changed to voting-by-district. They also want commission meetings to be held in the evening and to be televised so that more citizens can be involved in county matters.
But the challengers stoked partisan flames over generalized charges that county Democrats are insiders who abuse both local and state government power and pack the county payroll with relatives. County employees, some Republicans contend, are so intimidated by the Democrats that they feel compelled to vote for them.
R.V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr, commission chairman, employee of Gov. James B. Hunt Jr., brother-in-law of state Sen. Marc Basnight and father of R.V Owens III, a board member for the state Department of Transportation, has been at the bull's-eye of the Republican target.
In the Dare County Voter's
Guide, published by county Republicans, Embrey wrote a letter to voters that characterized the average Dare County citizen as fearful of challenging Owens and his ``family business.''
Embrey advised that ``not even Bobby (Owens) can deny you the right to a secret vote on election day.''
For the ``genuinely intimidated,'' he promised that Republicans will be watching the polls ``to keep things honest.''
Republicans crowned their campaign with a radio ad run in the week before Election Day that depicted Democrats as advocates for homosexuals, rapists, killers and criminals, ``rather than God-fearing people.''
The ad was pulled after widespread complaints from Republicans, Democrats and local citizens.
Individual Democrats, including Owens, have answered some of the charges, but have not responded as a party.
Owens has said that he is related to only one county employee, and that employee is a distant relative. On the Republican charge that he doesn't live in the district he represents, Owens says he is a resident of the district because he maintains an apartment in Nags Head. He owns a home in Manteo, where he lives full time.
KEYWORDS: DARE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS by CNB